


The lullaby of a ghost

by copycatgirl



Category: Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Genre: Character Death, M/M, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-25
Updated: 2012-09-25
Packaged: 2017-11-15 01:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/copycatgirl/pseuds/copycatgirl





	The lullaby of a ghost

It is not a suicide pact. The dead man cannot die again, he can only make a promise to stay close whilst the other comes to join him in the afterlife. They say suicide is a sin; but they say the same of sodomy, so Henry is already as damned as they come.

He would say that being able to see and even speak to Basil’s ghost was maddening, did he not suspect he has already gone mad. Basil’s presence is at first half-there, confusing and frightening. But the painter pushes through, and the night that he sees clearly Basil sitting at the end of his bed, Harry isn’t scared.

After that, Basil doesn’t leave. He is constantly by Harry’s side, talking to him, discussing things with him as they had in the past, when Basil was still alive. He is white and cold as marble and splattered with blood, but he looks so real, so alive, that Harry knows it can’t be some sickening dream.

Harry is alone. His friends are dead. His daughter despises him. He is horribly scarred- though Basil does tenderly stroke and kiss the burn- and weakened by age and the horror of what he has witnessed in the attic, and he’s just so tired. He decides that it is time. He decides he is going to die.

Basil speaks to him with soft words and kind assurances, determining that Harry is sure this was what he wants. He says he is going to guide him through to the other world. Harry hadn’t used to truly believe in such nonsense, but now, he is able to believe anything. He puts his affairs in order, and then leaves the house one last time in life, to visit the apothecary. He returns with the laudanum and ascends to his bedroom, where Basil waits at the door, holding out a hand.

He sits on the bed, takes the overdose, and then lies back. Basil holds him close through the respiratory failure, and Harry knows he can feel the other man’s grip, knows it is real, but clings like he thinks it will be snatched away. Harry falls asleep in Basil’s arms, as he had always known he was meant to.

In the morning, they find him alone on top of the covers, dead. Around his shoulders is draped a yellow scarf, stained deep red and brown with long-spilt blood.


End file.
